RAVAGES OF THE RICK WEEVIL. 185 



Like the Nut Weevil, these insects do their destructive work 

 in secret, and there is no finding out the mischief until it is 

 too late. The mother Weevil — tiny herself — inhabits a tiny 

 hole in a grain of corn, and therein deposits a single egg. The 

 larva is soon hatched from the egg, and sets to work at feeding 

 in the interior of the grain, the whole of which it consumes, 

 leaving the exterior untouched, so that the grain appears quite 

 sound. Of course, the damaged grain is lighter than the sound 

 one, the body of the larva not compensating in weight for the 

 amount of substance devoured by it ; and, if the corn be thrown 

 into water, the damaged corn will rise to the surface, and may 

 be skimmed off and biu-ned. As, however, damaged corn and 

 rice can both command a sale, and as all damaged grain is 

 not attacked by the Weevil, the dealers will seldom employ 

 such a measure ; though to destroy all the light corn for the 

 sake of killing the Weevils would in the long rmi be more 

 profitable than keeping it for sale and allowing the Weevils 

 to live. 



The destruction wrought by these tiny foes can scarcely be 

 over-estimated, but some idea of it may be estimated from the 

 following statements which were made at the Entomological 

 Society, April 4, 1870. Seventy-four tons of Spanish wheat 

 had been carefully sifted or ' screened ' to separate the Weevils 

 from it, and out of this quantity ten hundredweight of Weevils 

 were sifted. Again, one hundred and forty-five tons of Ameri- 

 can maize were subjected to the same process, and at two siftings 

 a ton and three-quarters of Weevils were removed. Now, each 

 of these Beetles had consumed several times its own weight of 

 corn before it attained the perfect state ; and the reader may see 

 that, if the grain had been subjected to the water-test and the 

 light portion burned, the proprietor would have saved the cost 

 of some two tons of corn, instead of all owing it to be eaten by 

 these insect devourers, the stock of whom increased in propor- 

 tion to the diminution of the stores. It is rather a remarkable 

 fact that all these Beetles were Eice, and not Corn Weevils, 

 although there was no rice among the grain which they so 

 seriously damaged. 



The larva of these Beetles is very short, fat, and thick, and 

 has two recurved hooks at the end of the body. It remains 

 inside the grain throughout its larval and pupal life. 



